Greater Lafayette still in a Forbes top-10

Greater Lafayette slipped one spot from last year but remains in the top 10 best small places in the nation for business and careers, as ranked by Forbes media.

Forbes’ 2014 ranking rates the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area ninth of 184 cities evaluated on a dozen economic and quality of life indicators.

Fargo, N.D., received top billing. Two other Indiana cities were ranked in the top 30, Columbus at 20 and Bloomington at 29. Muncie was 46th, Anderson 69th, Terre Haute 87th, Kokomo 106th, Elkhart 119th and Michigan City was ranked 122nd.

The rankings released Wednesday are based on metrics related to job growth trends and projects, costs of living and operating a business, college and high school graduation rates, and recreational and cultural opportunities, according to Forbes.com.

The high ranking shows the community is on the business map, said Jody Hamilton, director of economic and community and workforce development at Greater Lafayette Commerce.

Hamilton said she doubted the ranking alone will attract or retain businesses.

“We’re excited about the ranking, but we’re more excited about what it means,” she said.

“Companies are looking at the same economic factors that go into that ranking— job growth, quality of life and educational attainment.”

Business costs and educational attainment carry the most weight of the 12 factors evaluated, according to Forbes’ methodology.

Proximity to Purdue University is a plus, and improvement in area school performance during the past three years helped boost Lafayette’s score, Hamilton said.

“All of the high school graduation rates have improved dramatically, which helps in regard to recruiting companies,” she said.

“It shows that our quality of life is improving in graduation attainment.”

Forbes listed local high school attainment at 90 percent; college attainment at 31 percent; job growth at 1.3 percent; projected annual job growth at 1.7 percent; unemployment at 5.3 percent; and cost of living at 11.5 percent below the national average.

Collaboration to create a cost-effective business environment is another factor behind the high ranking, said Lafayette economic development director Dennis Carson.

“It is indicative of the team effort cultivated over the years among government, business and civic organizations,” he said.

“This teamwork and our priority to create a business-friendly environment has kept the cost of doing business competitive with other areas and translated to a high job growth rate for our area.”

Building the MatchBOX Coworking Studio to support entrepreneurs and small business development is another step the community has taken to stimulate job growth, Carson said.

Landing the GE Aviation jet engine manufacturing plant has placed Lafayette in the international spotlight, said Hamilton, who recently traveled with an Indiana trade delegation to the Farnborough International Airshow in the United Kingdom.

“Every time someone came to visit our booth, and I talked about our community, they said, ‘Oh, you have a big project going on,’ ” she said.

“To have a company that large want to do business in Lafayette, Indiana, means we must be a good place to do business.”

This is the fourth year the community has held a top 15 position on the list. Forbes ranked Greater Lafayette eighth last year; 15th in 2012; and 11th in 2011.